Fair Haven Health Expansion Plan Detailed

Fair Haven Community Health Care’s upcoming Grand Avenue expansion came into sharper focus — as a health center representative described plans to knock down an existing corner building that currently houses a pharmacy, a pizzeria, and a handful of apartments, and to construct in its stead a new neighborhood clinic and community space.

Dominic Seraphin, Fair Haven Health’s vice president of business development, presented those detailed floor plans and rezoning goals at Thursday evening’s Fair Haven Community Management Team meeting, which took place in person at the Fair Haven public library branch and on Zoom.

The community health clinic’s forthcoming three-story healthcare and community center on Grand Avenue will be located adjacent to its current 374 Grand Ave. headquarters. (Read more about the planned development here.)

The new building will be anchored at the corner of James Street and Grand Avenue, which is currently a surface parking lot. 

Seraphin said that the expansion development will also see Fair Haven Health demolish the mixed-use building at 382 – 394 Grand Ave. That building is owned by the health center and currently houses New Haven Pharmacy and Avelino’s Pizza. 

In the new building, the clinic will create 27 new exam rooms as well as seven rooms where mental health care will be integrated with other health care services. 

The clinic’s 30 existing exam rooms are too small, Seraphin said, and will be merged to create more space — bringing the net increase in exam rooms to 18.

Based on neighbors’ input, the third floor of the new building will include a community kitchen, a ​“large terrace” and food garden, meeting spaces, and a ​“food pharmacy” providing access to nutritious eats. 

The ground floor will feature a traditional pharmacy and laboratory. 

And outside, architects are planning to build a miniature outdoor space, termed a ​“pocket park,” at the center of the block, in addition to planting new trees on the corner of Grand and James.

“This is an opportunity for us to provide a state of the art facility … and create gathering spaces for the community,” said Suzanne Lagarde, the clinic’s CEO.

The clinic recently sold two of its buildings at the corner of Grand and Lloyd to the city, which is planning to build six units of housing there, Seraphin said. That new housing will offset the soon-to-be-demolished Grand Avenue apartments. Five housing units will be lost and six will be created by the end of the development process, said Seraphin.

The clinic is also planning to replace three Woolsey Street houses at 81 through 87 Woolsey with a new parking lot on Woolsey Street.

How much more traffic and pedestrian activity will the new exam rooms generate? asked David Steinhardt. Will the city’s sewage system be able to withstand the new activity?

Seraphin responded that the clinic estimates hiring 15 more medical professionals to staff the new exam rooms. A traffic and sewage study would be part of the engineering process, he said. 

Seraphin also revealed that the clinic’s block, bordered by Grand Avenue, Lloyd Street, Woosley Street, and James Street, is split into two zoning blocks — a BA‑1 business zone on the Grand Avenue side and a RM‑2 residential zone on the Woolsey Street side. In order to convert existing Woolsey Street housing into clinic space, Fair Haven Community Health Care will need to apply for a special exception before the Board of Zoning Appeals.

“This is a neighborhood. People live here,” said Christina Griffin, the management team’s secretary. ​“Is [the special exception] gonna affect the residents currently living” on Woolsey? 

Liz Tyghter de Velasquez asked for a ​“guarantee” that the clinic wouldn’t expand out into the rest of the block.

“A guarantee… ?” Seraphin said, trailing off for a moment. ​“This will serve the needs of the community. I don’t see additional properties needed,” he said.

“Are you putting the pharmacy out of business?” asked an online participant named Gina.

“We’re talking to Raj” — Rajendra Appalaneni, the pharmacy’s New Jersey-based owner — ​“and we’re looking to find another place for him,” said Seraphin. The clinic’s own pharmacy will fulfill neighbors’ needs on the block, he said.

Public business records list Appalaneni as an owner of 35 other pharmacies across Connecticut. He did not respond to a request for comment in time for this article. The owner of Avelino’s pizzeria declined to comment.